Brett Colson
-
Associate Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
-
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
-
Assistant Professor, Physiological Sciences Graduate Interdisciplinary Program
-
Assistant Professor, BIO5 Institute
-
Assistant Professor of Clinical Translational Sciences
My research interests include muscle physiology, muscle disease, and heart failure. The primary focus of my current research is cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac muscle dysfunction that occurs with genetic mutations in myosin binding protein-C (cMyBP-C), causing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and leading to arrhythmias, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death. This work also involves development and application of site-directed spectroscopic probe methods for understanding structure, function, and dynamics of cardiac muscle proteins, which is needed to understand the basic mechanisms that are crucial to cardiac muscle physiology and malfunction in disease. The powerful combination of my doctoral training experience in muscle physiology and biophysics under Dr. Richard Moss and my postdoctoral training under Dr. David Thomas in biochemistry and spectroscopic analysis of muscle protein molecular dynamics, uniquely positioned me to undertake biophysical studies at the forefront of biomedicine and technology. I will now continue this line of study in my newly established lab’s research program and independent research career. At the University of Arizona, I aim to establish a strong program in striated muscle biology and cardiovascular sciences to study the molecular mechanisms of muscle proteins and their response to changing physiological demands in health and disease, combining several biophysical techniques from comprehensive analysis of contractile function at levels ranging from isolated muscles to actin-myosin molecular interactions, to high-resolution distance and disorder measurements of muscle protein structural dynamics in solution and in muscle cells, specially engineered with reporter probes. I expect my career development to continue in the presence of high-quality faculty colleagues in the research area of cardiovascular physiology and muscle biophysics in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, the Molecular Cardiovascular Research Group, and the Sarver Heart Center under direction of Drs. Carol Gregorio and Nancy Sweitzer. My career development will be further strengthened with Dr. Henk Granzier as my senior faculty mentor. I am confident my past training has rigorously prepared me to pursue very exciting medically-relevant spectroscopy studies, well-aligned for discovery of novel therapies for muscle dysfunction and heart failure that I have proposed to study as I start my independent investigator career, in order to understand and fix the molecular defects underlying rare and complex disease in skeletal and cardiac muscle. I will use these spectroscopic approaches to understand muscle structure and mechanical function and then apply these insights for the development of high-throughput assays for novel muscle disease therapies to improve muscle strength and cardiac performance.
Degrees
- Ph.D. Physiology
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
- Ultrastructural basis for accelerated force development in myocardium due to phosphorylation of cMyBP-C
- M.S. Physiology
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
- B.S. Molecular Biology
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Work Experience
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2010 - 2015)
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (2006 - 2006)
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (2002 - 2004)
Interests
Teaching
Physiology, Complex Diseases, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Cardiovascular and Muscle Biology, Biomedical Engineering
Research
Spectroscopy, Cardiovascular and Muscle Biology, Molecular Motors, Drug Discovery
Courses
Directed Research
BIOC 392 (Fall 2022)
BIOC 392 (Spring 2022)
BIOC 392 (Fall 2021)
BIOC 392 (Spring 2021)
BIOC 392 (Fall 2020)
BIOC 392 (Fall 2017)
BIOC 492 (Spring 2024)
BIOC 492 (Fall 2023)
BIOC 492 (Spring 2023)
BIOC 492 (Spring 2018)
CHEM 392 (Fall 2017)
MCB 792 (Spring 2023)
MCB 792 (Spring 2022)
MCB 792 (Fall 2021)
PSIO 492 (Spring 2020)
Directed Rsrch
MCB 392 (Fall 2018)
MCB 392 (Spring 2018)
MCB 492 (Spring 2023)
MCB 492 (Fall 2022)
MCB 492 (Spring 2019)
MCB 492 (Fall 2018)
Honors Independent Study
MCB 399H (Fall 2018)
MCB 499H (Spring 2019)
PSIO 399H (Fall 2020)
PSIO 399H (Fall 2019)
PSIO 499H (Spring 2021)
Cardio Muscle Bio & Disease
BME 484 (Spring 2024)
BME 484 (Spring 2023)
BME 484 (Spring 2022)
BME 484 (Spring 2021)
BME 484 (Spring 2020)
BME 484 (Spring 2017)
BME 584 (Spring 2024)
BME 584 (Spring 2023)
BME 584 (Spring 2022)
BME 584 (Spring 2021)
BME 584 (Spring 2020)
BME 584 (Spring 2017)
CMM 484 (Spring 2024)
CMM 484 (Spring 2020)
CMM 584 (Spring 2024)
CMM 584 (Spring 2022)
CMM 584 (Spring 2021)
CMM 584 (Spring 2020)
CMM 584 (Spring 2019)
CMM 584 (Spring 2017)
MCB 484 (Spring 2023)
MCB 484 (Spring 2021)
MCB 484 (Spring 2020)
MCB 484 (Spring 2019)
MCB 584 (Spring 2021)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2024)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2023)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2022)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2021)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2020)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2019)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2018)
PSIO 484 (Spring 2017)
PSIO 584 (Spring 2024)
PSIO 584 (Spring 2023)
PSIO 584 (Spring 2022)
PSIO 584 (Spring 2021)
PSIO 584 (Spring 2019)
PSIO 584 (Spring 2018)
Senior Capstone
BIOC 498 (Spring 2020)
BIOC 498 (Fall 2019)
BIOC 498 (Spring 2019)
BIOC 498 (Fall 2018)
BIOC 498 (Spring 2017)
BIOC 498 (Fall 2016)
Honors Thesis
MCB 498H (Spring 2024)
MCB 498H (Fall 2023)
MCB 498H (Spring 2020)
MCB 498H (Fall 2019)
PSIO 498H (Spring 2022)
PSIO 498H (Fall 2021)
Scientific Grantsmanship
IMB 521 (Spring 2019)
Prin of Cell Biology
CMM 577 (Fall 2024)
CMM 577 (Fall 2023)
CMM 577 (Fall 2022)
CMM 577 (Fall 2021)
CMM 577 (Fall 2016)
MCB 577 (Fall 2023)
MCB 577 (Fall 2022)
MCB 577 (Fall 2021)
MCB 577 (Fall 2016)
Rsrch Meth Biomed Engr
BME 592 (Fall 2020)
BME 597G (Fall 2019)
Journal Club
CMM 595A (Fall 2024)
CMM 595A (Spring 2024)
CMM 595A (Fall 2023)
Cardiovascular Biology
CMM 596A (Spring 2024)
CMM 596A (Fall 2023)
CMM 596A (Spring 2023)
CMM 596A (Fall 2022)
CMM 596A (Spring 2022)
CMM 596A (Fall 2021)
CMM 596A (Spring 2021)
CMM 596A (Fall 2020)
Independent Study
BME 599 (Summer I 2016)
Crnt Tops in Translational Med
CMM 604 (Spring 2018)
CMM 604 (Spring 2017)
Rsrch Meth Psio Sci
PS 700 (Spring 2020)
Introduction to Research
MCB 795A (Fall 2018)
MCB 795A (Fall 2017)
MCB 795A (Spring 2017)
Research
CMM 900 (Spring 2024)
CMM 900 (Fall 2023)
CMM 900 (Spring 2019)
CMM 900 (Fall 2018)
PS 900 (Fall 2023)
PS 900 (Spring 2022)
PS 900 (Fall 2021)
PS 900 (Spring 2021)
PS 900 (Fall 2020)
Thesis
CMM 910 (Summer I 2024)
CMM 910 (Spring 2024)
CMM 910 (Fall 2023)
Dissertation
CMM 920 (Spring 2023)
CMM 920 (Fall 2022)
CMM 920 (Spring 2022)
CMM 920 (Fall 2021)
CMM 920 (Spring 2021)
CMM 920 (Fall 2020)
CMM 920 (Spring 2020)
CMM 920 (Fall 2019)
PS 920 (Spring 2024)
PS 920 (Fall 2023)
PS 920 (Spring 2023)
PS 920 (Fall 2022)
PS 920 (Spring 2022)
Licensure & Certification
- Graduate, National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, Argonne National Laboratories (2006)
Selected Publications
Chapters
- Thomas, D. D., Muretta, J. M., Colson, B. A., Mello, R., & Kast, D. J. (2012). Spectroscopic probes of muscle proteins. In Muscle Biophysics. Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-374920-8.00415-X
Journals/Publications
- Wong, F. L., Bunch, T. A., Lepak, V. C., Steedman, A. L., & Colson, B. A. (2024). Cardiac myosin-binding protein C N-terminal interactions with myosin and actin filaments: Opposite effects of phosphorylation and M-domain mutations. Journal of molecular and cellular cardiology, 186, 125-137.
- Bunch, T. A., Guhathakurta, P., Thompson, A. R., Lepak, V. C., Carter, A. L., Thomas, J. J., Thomas, D. D., & Colson, B. A. (2023). Drug discovery for heart failure targeting myosin-binding protein C. The Journal of biological chemistry, 299(12), 105369.
- Dvornikov, A. V., Bunch, T. A., Lepak, V. C., & Colson, B. A. (2023). Fluorescence lifetime-based assay reports structural changes in cardiac muscle mediated by effectors of contractile regulation. The Journal of general physiology, 155(3).
- Kanassatega, R. S., Bunch, T. A., Lepak, V. C., Wang, C., & Colson, B. A. (2022). Human cardiac myosin-binding protein C phosphorylation- and mutation-dependent structural dynamics monitored by time-resolved FRET. Journal of molecular and cellular cardiology, 166, 116-126.
- Wong, F., Bunch, T., Lepak, V., & Colson, B. (2022). N-terminal cardiac myosin-binding protein C interactions with myosin and actin filaments using time-resolved FRET. bioRxiv. doi:https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.07.507024
- Bunch, T. A., Guhathakurta, P., Lepak, V. C., Thompson, A. R., Kanassatega, R. S., Wilson, A., Thomas, D. D., & Colson, B. A. (2021). Cardiac myosin-binding protein C interaction with actin is inhibited by compounds identified in a high-throughput fluorescence lifetime screen. The Journal of biological chemistry, 297(1), 100840.
- Bunch, T. A., Lepak, V. C., Bortz, K. M., & Colson, B. A. (2021). A high-throughput fluorescence lifetime-based assay to detect binding of myosin-binding protein C to F-actin. The Journal of general physiology, 153(3).
- Cha, B. H., Jung, M., Kim, A. S., Lepak, V. C., Colson, B. A., Bull, D. A., & Won, Y. (2021). AZD2014, a dual mTOR inhibitor, attenuates cardiac hypertrophy in vitro and in vivo. Journal of biological engineering, 15(1), 24.
- Colson, B. A. (2021). In the eye of the STORM: Tracking the myosin-binding protein C N terminus in heart muscle. The Journal of general physiology, 153(3).
- Tardiff, J. C., Lehman, S. J., Klass, M. M., Kanassatega, R., Davis, J. P., & Colson, B. A. (2021). Exploring the Effects of Mutations and Thick Filament Proteins on Myofilament Calcium Kinetics Via Stopped-Flow. Biophysical Journal, 120(3). doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2020.11.566
- Thompson, A. R., Thomas, D. D., Lepak, V. C., Guhathakurta, P., Colson, B. A., & Bunch, T. A. (2021). High-Throughput Fluorescence Lifetime-Based Screen Detects Compounds that Bind to Myosin-Binding Protein C and Modulate Interactions with Actin. Biophysical Journal, 120(3). doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2020.11.1631
- Wilson, A., Thompson, A. R., Thomas, D. D., Lepak, V. C., Kanassatega, R., Guhathakurta, P., Colson, B. A., & Bunch, T. A. (2021). Cardiac myosin-binding protein C interaction with actin is inhibited by compounds identified in a high-throughput fluorescence lifetime screen.. The Journal of biological chemistry, 297(1), 100840. doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100840
- Lepak, V. C., Colson, B. A., & Bunch, T. A. (2020). A High-Throughput Fluorescence Lifetime-Based Assay for Detecting Binding of Myosin Binding Protein-C to F-Actin-Tropomyosin. Biophysical Journal, 118(3), 423a. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2019.11.2383
- Lepak, V. C., Dvornikov, A. V., Colson, B. A., & Bunch, T. A. (2020). Altered Thick and Thin Filament Structural Dynamics in Mouse Myocardium Due to Ablation and Phosphorylation of Myosin Binding Protein-C. Biophysical Journal, 118(3), 425a. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2019.11.2390
- Wang, C., Lepak, V. C., Kanassatega, R., Colson, B. A., & Bunch, T. A. (2020). A FRET-Based Biosensor for Detecting Phosphorylation-dependent Structural Dynamics in Human Myosin Binding Protein-C. Biophysical Journal, 118(3), 8a. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2019.11.235
Awards
- Precision Mouse Modeling Program
- UA GEMM Core, Fall 2017
- UA GEMM Core, Fall 2015